The killing of a chao
About a week ago, I had wanted to play Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, one of my all time favorite games in the series. But, I had sold my copy of the game years ago, so I decided to talk to my buddy who worked at GameStop. He told me something that piqued my interests, “Well,” he began, “We do have a copy, but, technically, I can’t sell it to you – it’s against the store policy.” I gave him a baffled expression, “Why is that?” He grimaced, and replied, “Well, you see, we can’t sell non-functioning or tampered-with games. And, this games is pretty fucked up.” I raised and eyebrow at him, and he continued with, “But, if I were to accidentally leave the game at your door-step tomorrow morning…” We both smirked, and I thanked him. As I went home, I wondered what he meant when he said that the game had been tampered with. But, I didn’t really care too much, I just wanted to play the it, whether it was hacked or not. The next morning I woke up early, eagerly awaiting the game’s arrival. I heard a knock at the door, and excitedly walked towards it, ready for hours of fun and nostalgia. Upon opening the door, I saw my friend standing on my porch with a grin on his face. “You got the game, man?” I asked. “Of course,” he answered while he handed me a case, donning the title Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. Thanking him, I grabbed the game and set it carefully on the coffee table. We hung out for a while before he had to leave for work. Upon exiting he said, “Do me a favor – if you don’t like it, please, sell it on eBay, not back to us.” I laughed and agreed, bidding him farewell as he left. Immediately, I popped the game into my Wii, plugging in a GameCube remote. Everything was normal, and I enjoyed the game immensely. It wasn’t until I entered the Chao Garden for the first time that it became strange. Upon searching, I found that there was a single Chao, named ‘Quare’. Having taken Latin classes in high school, I remembered that ‘quare’ means ‘why’. I was baffled as to the reason someone would name a Chao this, but I chose to ignore it. The Chao was plain, it had no animal parts and it had nothing particularly special about it. I checked its stats, and they were all at their base. I attempted to feed it, but it refused to eat anything. Similarly, if I tried to give it an animal or Chao drive, it did not take it. Eventually, Quare’s lack of eating took its toll. I watched in sadness as the creature formed a white cocoon around itself. But, instead of the cocoon simply fading away as it normally does upon death, it disintegrated. I found this slightly disturbing, but I assumed this was just a glitch of some kind. I bought an egg in the Black Market and hatched it, naming it Quare, in memory of my previous Chao. I ran through the stage Pumpkin Mountain as Knuckles to retrieve some animals and Chao drives. When I returned to Chao Garden, I released the items and went to pick up Quare. But, when I plucked the creature from the ground, a cut-scene began to play. I watched quietly, puzzled at this unfamiliar scene. Knuckles gently caressed the Chao for a moment, before placing his hand around Quare’s head. Then, suddenly, with a precise, decisive motion, Knuckles snapped the Chao’s neck. A loud crrrack was audible from the game. My jaw dropped as Quare’s body fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. Knuckles’ normally fierce expression was now depressed and melancholy, and I watched in horror as another white cocoon formed around the body, and it disintegrated Thoughts flooded through my head. Why would he do that? What sicko hacked this game and caused Knuckles to do something that horrific? I shook my head to rationalize my thoughts. After a moment of thought, I decided that I would get to the bottom of this. I steeled myself for what was to come. I tried different characters, different kinds of Chaos, and even different names. But it always ended the same way, in death. The deaths became progressively crueler, ranging from drowning the Chao, to trampling it until it became a gory mess. But, once I reset the game, something interesting finally happened. I entered Chao garden as Knuckles to find the original Quare leaning against a tree, its head falling awkwardly to the side, its neck apparently still snapped. It stared at me intently for a few moments before a wicked smile grew upon its face, the same smile that Dark Chaos don. A tiny, innocent voice came from the game, and asked quietly, “Quare? Tears streamed down Knuckles’ face as he fell to his knees. The chao approached him quietly, still grinning maniacally, “Quare,” it repeated, “Quare? Quare? Quare?” Knuckles looked sorrowfully at it, before curling his hand into a fist. Using the spikes upon his fist, he slowly slit his own throat, blood dripping down his body and onto the grass below him. He fell to the ground. And, just like the Chaos who had perished before him, a white cocoon formed around him, and he disintegrated. I shut off the game – I couldn’t take it anymore. I removed the disc from the console and snapped it in half before throwing it in the garbage. I haven’t played a Sonic game since.